by Pieter Bos
volume 2 of a planned Trilogy “The City Redeemed.”

On this volume.
Chapter outline:

0. Foreword and Introduction
1. Looking Forward to The City.
   City appreciation in the Bible. The creative mandate. City building
2. The City, the Absolute Partner of God.
   What is human? What is a city? Towards a definition. The absolute glory of the city as Partner of God.
3. Pain 1: She does not know Who She Is.
   The Corporative Identity of the city. Monographs on seven cities are presented.
4. Pain 2: She does Not Know What She Is.
   Through individualism, power play and strongholds, even the concept of city evaporates; dialoguing with professionals produces many questions.
5. Pain 3: She does not Know Where She is Going.
   Suburbanization and cultural homogenization in the visible realm; global; re-mythologizing of government in the invisible realm.
6. Pain 4: The Fourth and Greatest Pain of the City.
   City restoration and city destruction: She wonders: will I succeed?
7. The City Redeemed.
   Strategies and testimonies for City Reaching from the perspective of God's design for the City.

Please look at the Synopsis.

A trilogy?
Unexpectedly, this has turned into a trilogy in two volumes. There was a good reason for this development.
When, during the nineties, I started the whole endeavour of writing down my discoveries on nations and cities, however I compressed it, it could not be contained in one volume. My friends advised me to make it a trilogy; my publisher agreed and so I re-organized the material, starting with Vol. 1, " The Nations Called, a theology of the nations and their redemption."
Vol. 1 was released in 2002, and I am very happy that it was received positively and I was asked for more.
Vol. 2, on the City should be in print by the end of 2006. It will be of the same (high) quality of discovery, pioneering and challenge to the Church as Vol. 1.
The title and topic of the third volume was to be: "The City Redeemed, urban missions in the perspective of eternity". However, over the years I found to my joy that part of that field was being very well covered by a new generation of pioneers and authors, mainly under the new banners of "City Reaching" and "City Transformation".
So I decided to acknowledge those pioneers and to restrict myself to what I can contribute: the application of the Theology of the City into the fields of City Reaching and City Transformation. Volume 3 has therefore turned naturally into the last chapter of Vol. 2.
In other words: It is a trilogy, but in two volumes. Do not be confused, just enjoy the discovery of God's heart for the city, His design and His final goal for the "crown of creation".

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